Just a little something to consider
by Akatsu Fate Chan
Summary: An unknown girl is found to embody that which could break the curse. A kitsune. AU Contains two OC's and male Akito. Shown from the POV's of the OC who is Akito's sister and the OC who embodies the fox spirit.


Disclaimer: Don't own.

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He liked to play dress-up. That statement was her summary of her older brother, God of the Sohma clan. "What does that have to do with anything?" Kyo spat out to the enigmatically smiling sister. "Everything," she told him with a straight face and watched his disbelief. She greeted Shigure with a nod and an, "Thank you that I can stay here." She, just like most Sohmas in that building had lived most of her life in the main mansion of the Sohma family. On a whim, she had decided to temporarily move out.

"Let me get it straight, you want to crash here for a week, because Akito likes playing dress-up?" Yuki puzzled, sounding very uncomfortable using slang. The emotions returned to her face, in the curve of her lips as she beamed up at him, brightly. "Yes! You have it correct, Yuki!" she also said, while sagely nodding her head. Kyo took her response in and then, whispered to the girl next to him, "Is she mocking him?" To which the girl reacted very flustered. "Of course not! Don't be so rude, Kyo!" A reaction which, personally, Akiko thought an over embellishment.

"You don't have to thank me," Shigure answered, modestly, "I'd do the same for anyone else." In other words, don't think he did it especially for Akiko. She hummed in amusement, met his gaze with amused and acknowledging eyes, then looked back at the rest of the room. "So?" she remarked, faux casually, "Where might my room be?" The girl, who Akiko still didn't know the name to, was the one who lead her to her room. Apparently it had been used as a storage room, but when Shigure got note of her visit, he'd ensured that most of the things in the storage room got shipped of and the room cleaned up. "I can't imagine that the dog did his cleaning by himself," she commented faux offhandedly, but glanced at the girl's reaction from the corner of her dark eyes.

"Umm," the girl sweated, "I actually did it - and Kyo, too." Hmm? So she was unwilling to lie for someone else's interest? Good girl. Akiko nodded thoughtfully and didn't comment. Then she remembered, to ask the girl for her name. "Oh!" the girl exclaimed, hands flying skittishly, "Yes, I'm sorry, I totally forgot!" she proceeded to bow excessively low, "I'm Honda Tohru, it's nice to meet you." Akiko bowed only her head at the introduction, amusement tugging at the corners of her mouth. "They call me Sohma Akiko. Shigure's cousin - I suppose." She smiled somewhat sheepishly, and gestured towards the exit, "Shall we go back down?" to which Honda agreed, just as frazzled as before. Akiko followed closely on her heels, a bit thoughtful about Honda. The girl type seemed to be the kind that are excessively good-natured. Akito's anathema. Those types just beckon misfortune of happening to them, because they're often too naive to know when to stop being selfless, and treat everyone in the same regard which can be dangerous as well as most people are selfish enough to take advantage of any goodwill shown.

Akiko herself had a fondness for such types, because she knew that whatever bad deeds she did wouldn't cause the girl any discomfort. It was good on her ego for her to be in their proximity. She relaxed her face into a more relaxed state as the two girls entered the room were the rest of the Sohma were in. Akiko started towards the fridge, taking two glasses from the cupboard next to it. She poured herself a glass of milk, ignoring Kyo's spluttered exclamations of the milk being his and that she couldn't just help herself and sat down onto the couch, next to Shigure. She sipped sedately her milk.

Things in the household quickly turned back to normal, as Tohru started on dinner and Kyo and Yuki started a fight on what channel to put the tv on. Akiko leaned into the plush exterior of the couch, the very image of relaxation. She turned her head to Shigure, saying, "They know nothing of compromise, do they?" Though her seemingly lightly said words had an blaming undercurrent to them. He was their guardian after all, so why wasn't he doing anything about the fight unfurling? Of course, Akiko herself didn't care much about it either. But that was natural, she wasn't responsible for them or anything. Shigure wilfully ignored her slight reprimand, replying with an amused, "No, they don't," which closed the topic seamlessly and both adults sunk into silence.

After a moments pause, Akiko decided to address the fidgeting Tohru, who'd returned from the kitchen and seemed to be fretting about the fight. "Is it you who has to take care of the wounds they end up with after such fights?" Tohru nodded, the movement reminding Akiko of the dips of a sparrow when it makes it's nest. That thought amused her for a moment as Tohru seemed to be searching for an answer to tell her. "Sometimes," she ended up saying, rather abruptly. Akiko raised her eyebrows. "Well, how unthoughtful is it for them to cause more larcenies that you have to treat. Aren't they taking advantage of you?" To which Tohru responded by vigorously shaking her head and hands, "They don't do so on purpose, so I don't mind, really!" the girl assured almost frantically.

Akiko tapped her chin with her nail, "Hmm? Well, then aren't they just taking you for granted?" she asked, taking enjoyment from the sharp hurt that appeared in Tohru's eyes before the girl covered it up. "It's as Tohru-chan says," Shigure interrupted before the discussion could continue, "They don't mean any ill will towards Tohru-chan, as unthoughtful as they act sometimes. Can you stop twisting the situation to suit your needs, Akiko-san?" She heard the sharp notes to her name and it suited her to giggle into her kimono sleeves, not minding how much she resembled her brother while doing so. For a second, he also looked like she reminded him of said person, but then Tohru assured Shigure that Akiko was just, "Worried for me. I don't mind, Shigeru-san, honest!" And Akiko swallowed the giggle before it could appear at the girl's earnestly naive answer. Yes, the girl was exactly as Akiko had expected, which was a good thing, mind.

"Yes, Shigure," she concurred instead, "I'm not twisting anything. Don't embarrass yourself by seeing antagonistic behaviour where there is none." Akiko then smiled at Tohru, "But thanks for sticking up for me, Honda-chan." The girl coloured slightly, and gestured wildly, "It's nothing to thank for, because I'm sure you would have done the same for me." Awww, Akiko's kind words had embarrassed the girl. Akiko took a mental note of that, to embarrass the girl more just to see her fluster. The boys stopped their fight, apparently only just noticing the tense atmosphere between the two adults in the room. Kyo whispered a question auspiciously to Tohru. Yuki, meanwhile, just gazed at the two, shook his head, and decided not to bother. He went to the kitchen to check on Tohru's cooking. He left the kitchen with a word that food was ready. Apparently Tohru had been waiting for them to stop fighting to announce so.

Soon they were all seated to the dining table. Akiko partook in the rice-balls at everyone's (except Tohru's) insistence.  
"Huh," she replied as she glanced down to the half eaten rice-ball in her hands. Tohru was looking at her in an anticipatory manner, eyes wide and exquisite for her opinion. Tohru'd hate it if she hadn't made good food for the new housemate to enjoy. Shigure, Akiko noticed, was also waiting expectantly for her opinion. She supposed he wanted the time to berate her for being an ungrateful freeloader. The truth was, that the food had been the best she'd eaten, outside of Ayame's cooking. Of course, since it was a rice-ball, that wasn't difficult to do. "It's delicious," she declared, and threw Tohru a smile saturated with gratitude for the meal. Tohru blushed, ducking in her head slightly, but her answering smile was pure radiance. Shigure glanced away, Akiko noticed from the corner of her eyes. Probably disappointed that he couldn't chasten her. The thought made another smile appear, her lips curving craftily.

"You should try the leeks," Yuki offered with a decisive look aimed Kyo's way. Yes, cats didn't like leeks, did they? Kyo seemed to have noticed that as well, gaze darkening as he squarely met Yuki's gaze with his own. Both of them did have the manners to finish the meal before unfurling into another fight, Tohru watching anxiously, her hands folded together. Akiko sighed, glancing towards the patio which could be seen from the glass doors taking up the whole west wall. "I'm going to take a walk," she told Shigure, "To take a better look of the neighbourhood," before putting actions to words and sliding the glass door open, stepping an leg over the threshold.

She returned at midnight, when the children of the household were already sleeping. She slid into the seat next to Shigeru, who twisted away, a bit startled. But he took the fact that the kids weren't there as an invitation to question her reasoning for wanting to move away from the main house. "I felt lonely there," she told him straight out, nonplussed. Then smiled, amused, at the surprise he showed to her answer, "Not the villainous reason you were expecting, huh?" He regained his baring surprisingly fast, but Akiko knew that he had thought bad of her and that amused her. Yes, it was true; coming here had been the best idea she'd had in a while. There was entertainment and company in spades.  
"Not exactly, no," he told her honestly and his eyes turned grave attempting to bore into her dark, unfathomable ones.

"I think we have to go over some ground rules for your continued stay here," he told her, and stressed the words to express how important they were. She shrugged, pressing her cheek against the plush texture of the couch, completely okay with that. "Mmm, and those are?" she prompted, after a minute in which he gazed at her with disbelief. He took another minute to gather his thought and then carefully voiced them. "Rule number one; if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all," he deadpanned and she grinned at him like a little child caught sneaking some cookies, and he continued undeterred, "Rule number two; be courteous towards Tohru as much as she is towards you," and she remembered her silent vow to make Tohru more flustered. Well, there were easy methods to do so that weren't outright discourteous so she could agree to that. "Rule number three; Don't bring up Akito in this house or around Yuki and Kyo," he seemed even more serious than before, and she squarely met his eyes, inclining her head in promise. Even she knew that was in bad taste.

But something about his words piqued her, "Hmm? Hasn't Tohru met Akito-nii yet?" she asked, blinking as her curiosity was aroused. Because she knew how Akito was around outsiders; which was marginally worse then around insiders and considering his behaviour around insiders, that was worrying. Hence why, if Honda had met Akito, she'd probably end up traumatised and unwilling to be reminded of said man. Shigure shook his head in negative, the solid edges of his face looking weary and concerned, but at the same time relieved. Akiko could dissect said emotions and find the reason for them, but it would be so easy she didn't have to. Relieved because Akito hadn't demanded to meet Honda yet. Weary because of melancholy and concerned because there was a very big possibility that darling Akito will want to meet her, and soon.

"Any other rules?" she asked, diverting the subject back to the proper one. He needed to think for a moment, but then he shook his head in negative. Those were the most important ones, anyway. "Alright then," she said, her voice obnoxiously bright, "I consent to all of them. I'm not unreasonable, you know." Just very, very bored. "Anyways, have you seen Akito-nii lately? He's being more under the weather than usual. I'm quite worried," she told him, grasping for a topic to keep the conversation going. Probably not the best one, but she didn't like being in silence. Especially awkward silence. Just the thought made her shudder. "Oh," he said, "That's . . . sad. Well, the next time you and him speak, give him my condolences." That was something one said to somebody who's goldfish just died, Akiko couldn't help but think. She decided to retire early, since the conversation wasn't going anywhere.


End file.
